


life is beautiful

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, References to Drugs, Sexual Content, donghyuck is hot guys, drug dealer mark, kind of really angsty, lowkey renmin, mark has issues lol, not all of it though dw, not really smut but like, so does donghyuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-06 21:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16840684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Mark Lee has never had a problem with his customers. It was an easy process; they pay, he gives them the drugs, transaction done.He's not sure where falling in love with the customer's bitch falls, though.





	life is beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> hello i've lowkey been thinking about writing something like this forever and personally i rlly like everything i have planned out for this story so far so...hope u enjoy it!! (btw a bunch of the characters and other things happen in later chapters so dw if you were looking for renmin or smth)  
> btw a lot of aspects in the fic are inspired by one of my fav fics ever...only breathing uwu https://archiveofourown.org/works/10438683 it's a yoonmin fic but its super super good....i love it

**_September 20th_ **

**_2018_ ** **_|6:03PM_ **

**_Upper Class Seoul_ **

Mark took his time walking down the familiar path to the higher-class apartments that belonged to the uphill society of his city.

It was a nuisance really, Mark having to come all the way down here from his cozy apartment. It was only 6PM, prime resting hour for Mark. He instantly regretted wearing a sweatshirt when he stepped out his apartment building earlier today, but he didn’t think it’d get hotter.

He has the urge to just rip the sweatshirt off, but he didn’t want to risk any unnecessary attention directed towards him. He currently has a backpack full of pot, and it’d be slightly problematic if he were to be stopped by a cop for public indecency.

He arrived at the correct building and went over the rules he goes by every time with his career:

-don’t ask questions

-don’t promise something you can’t provide

-never let them off the hook for not paying, enforce payment on the spot

-don’t go after the customer’s bitch

Mark has never had a big problem with any of the rules. He’s had a few smart asses who thought they could try to weasel their way out of paying, but it never ended well for them in the end.

He had runners that he trusted to deal out the drugs and collect the payment for him, obviously. There are always the few clients Mark has to get to himself, though. These clients are the ones that annoy Mark the most. He mostly did it with people he didn’t trust: first time buyers, sketchy looking buyers, etc. He only didn’t get annoyed when he chose to deliver to some of his close friends himself. 

In this case, it was kind of both.

Nae Minjun is a mysterious guy. Mark isn’t really sure how he feels about him, but he knows something is off about the man. Minjun has never done anything to Mark personally, they actually appear to be friends from an outside perspective. They’ve gotten high together a couple of times, and since they have mutual friends, they’ve seen each other in multiple outings.

But Mark’s been around with a lot of people, and he’s speculated Nae Minjun is a fucking dick. Compared to Minjun, Mark sees himself as a decent person.

Mark’s heard about the treatment of past friends and partners Minjun has given them. He’s a manipulative dick.

That’s why Mark doesn’t want his runners delivering to Minjun. It wasn’t a trust thing, he just didn’t want his runner’s to be fooled into something devious. Minjun is smart, Mark can tell because he considers himself a fairly smart person. Or, he just has a lot of common sense, so it makes him seem smart. Either way, Mark stands a better chance if Minjun tries anything than his younger runners.

The apartment building was extremely nice, meaning you needed a key to enter. Luckily, Mark arrived at the same time as another resident there, so he was able to get in without calling Minjun.

Once he got to Minjun’s door, he simply presses the doorbell button beside the door. He waits about 10 seconds, and presses it again when no one comes to the door. Another 10 seconds pass, and Mark’s beginning to get irritated.

He informed Minjun the time he was coming, and they both agreed with it. There’s no reason Minjun can’t be at his apartment right now that he couldn’t alert Mark at first.

Mark rings one more time, and gets frustrated since no one is opening the door. He turns around and begins to leave the building, but Minjun’s door swings open and alerts Mark that he is, in fact, home.

“Mark, sorry man! I completely forgot you were coming at 6. My bad.” Minjun apologizes, moving out of the way of the door frame. He was shirtless with sweat glinting off his neck, and sporting an obvious bulge in his sweatpants. Mark can assume he interrupted something with his ringing, but he doesn’t really give a shit.

“Nah, it’s all good dude.” He feigns. Mark was really fucking annoyed that Minjun forgot he was delivering the drugs that he’s purchasing in the first place, but Minjun didn’t have to know that. He steps inside of the apartment and sits down on an armchair, the seat closest to the door. “You said you wanted a few grams?”

“Yeah, $30 right?” Minjun confirms.

“Yup.”

“Lemme just grab my wallet…” Minjun says and then disappears down the hallway.

Mark took it as a chance to look around the apartment. It was modern and spacious, and it would look a whole lot better if it wasn’t covered with grime. There were stray clothes left all over the furniture set, cups and empty cans littering the floor, and crack pipe sitting right on the table. Mark remembers the previous week when he came here to sell 5 grams of that shit to Minjun.

He turns his head to look at the other side of the living room when he spots him—he’s sure he stops breathing for a few seconds.

A boy, straight up gorgeous, was leaning against the door frame to what Mark assumes is the bedroom with his arms crossed. His skin was clear and sun-kissed, his eyes similar to a puppy’s, both working well with his orange-brownish hair to create an angelic appearance. Mark could tell the boy was far from an angel though, seeing the dark hickeys on his neck and his swollen lips. He’s most likely a hooker, a young one too.

The boy continues staring at Mark with a disinterested look, and Mark’s not sure how long it went on for. It can’t have been that long, since Minjun can’t have been gone too long, but it felt like an hour with them just staring at each other.

Minjun shuffles back into the room and Mark pries his eyes away from the other boy in the room, getting up so he can leave the apartment quicker.

Mark takes the money from Minjun, makes sure there’s $30 there, and then fishes the package out of his backpack. He hands it to him and Minjun flashes him an obviously forced smile.

“Thanks, man. You don’t know who’s lacing shit these days. By the way, I’m gonna need more crack before Saturday.” Minjun thanks, fidgeting his hands.

 _Oh my fucking god_ —, Mark curses in his head.

“Of course. And how much? You gotta tell me this shit earlier than 2 days before you need it.” Mark really didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to go home and relax, not talking to fucking Nae Minjun. Oh, and the boy’s staring is also burning into the side of his head.

“Just a few grams, cool it chief.” Minjun jokes. Mark pulls an amused expression, trying not to snap at the other male.

“Cool. Now, I’d love to hang around, but you seem...busy.” Mark says, eyes straying to the boy, who was still leaning up against the door frame.

Minjun’s ears go red at the comment, “Yeah, we were a little busy, I guess.”

“Well, continue what you guys were doing, fuck around, and text me if you wanna order anything else.” Mark says, adjusting his backpack and now walking towards the door.

Minjun laughs, walking him out. “Stay out of trouble man.” Minjun holds out his hand and Mark claps their hands together, as a goodbye. “Will do, brother.”

Minjun closes the door and Mark casually leaves the building.

He’d rather die than go through that again. Fuck Nae Minjun.

When Mark came home, the instant he kicked off his shoes and got that stuffy sweatshirt off his body, he collapsed onto the couch. He was exhausted from the day, having to wake up a lot earlier than usual and actually go places.

After laying down face first for about 15 minutes, his brain hindering him from resting, he got back up and went to make himself coffee.

Mark’s always had problems with sleeping. When he was growing up, it was the stress of his father and the chiding of his mother that kept him up well into the night. Even though he moved out long ago, it followed into his adulthood, and he’s sure he’s not capable of sleeping more than 4 hours a night.

He got his coffee and then opened his laptop, searching through Netflix for something to watch for the night.

He finds a shit looking movie—but there’s really nothing he hasn’t watched—so he just goes with it.

About 5 minutes in, he gets interrupted with a call. He exhales, kind of pressed, and answers the call without looking at the ID. 

“Hello?” Mark asks curtly.

“ _Thanks, Mark. Great way to greet your soulmate._ ” Jaehyun says sarcastically from the other line.

“I thought you were going to be fucking Minjun, hop off.”

“ _Okay, sure. You’re so lucky I’m used to your crankiness, otherwise I’d hang up and not remind you about tomorrow._ ”

“What? What’s tomorrow?”

“ _I was right, you forgot. Tomorrow is Yugyeom’s party_.”

“Fuck, right. I forgot about that.”

“ _Did you eat yet?_ ” A familiar voice asks.

“Taeyong?”

“ _Yes, now answer my question._ ”

“Um, no. I just got home.”

“ _Do you wanna come eat with us?_ ”

“I’m kind of lazy if I’m being honest.”

“ _Okay, we’ll keep you in mind while we have the world's best pizza._ ” Another voice says.

“Jungwoo? What the hell, is everyone over there?”

“ _Nah, just us three_ .” Jaehyun answers. “ _Okay, we just wanted to ask you. Bye, don’t miss me too much_.”

“Who could resist Jung Jaehyun’s charms? I’m already missing you.” Mark jokes.

“ _Aww, Markie! I’ll see you later, babe._ ”

“Okay forreal, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Bye.” Mark says and then ends the call. He didn’t really give a chance for Taeyong or Jungwoo to say goodbye, but oh well, he sees them practically everyday anyway.

Jaehyun is a friend Mark is extremely grateful for. For Mark’s type of work, it’s required to be able to socialize well with people and be a friend to everyone. Mark’s good at that, and he has a lot of people he can say “hello” to if he passes them on the street. Jaehyun isn’t one of those friends though, Mark see’s Jaehyun as a blood brother.

Jaehyun has helped Mark through quite a lot. In their early high school days, he allowed Mark to vent to him about his parents and home life. He got Mark into rapping, introduced him to key to getting laid, and was his hookup for when he first started dealing.

Mark’s parents divorced when he was 17. Mark’s mother found a new husband and got married to him a week after he turned 18. He disliked the man she got married to immensely, he just had a bad character. He also had a snobby son who was thinner than a stick yet still a good 4 inches taller than Mark. He didn’t like the son, or his step-dad, but he never voiced his opinion so he wouldn’t tarnish his mother’s happiness.

Things were fine, with the dad and the brother, until one day he came home earlier than usual. The previous night he had attended a sketchy looking concert, and he got invited to the after party. Parties held by rappers always had free pot, so he went and got super fucking faded. His parents were at work, so he thought his step-brother would be at school or something.

He was fucking wrong.

There, in his living room, he saw his girlfriend—Soojin—shirtless with her bra unhooked, straddling his lap. He instantly saw red, he’s always been kind of the possessive type, and seeing his girlfriend there like that made his blood boil. All he remembers is a lot of screaming from him, his dumbass of a step-brother punching him, and a lot more punching coming from Mark.

Mark’s pretty sure he broke the kid’s nose, but he was too mad to care at the time. He packed his stuff and left to Jaehyun’s for a long while. Things were rough for him after that. At first, his mother constantly called him and screamed at him, demanding him to tell her why he did it. She would yell at him to come home, to apologize and fix what happened, but Mark never did. She eventually stopped calling, and turned cold towards him. First time he saw her after that incident, she pretended she didn’t see him and walked away. He did fix things with his mother after a good 6 months of suffering, but things aren’t the same anymore. It’s always a little awkward and tense when he comes to visit since he’s not welcomed in that household anymore.

Jaehyun was there for him through all of that, his problematic 19 year old life experience.

Mark is now 23, and he thinks he’s living a pretty okay life. He gets to do a lot of the shit he wants, gets to talk to the few friends he has, and he has money to spare. Johnny, a good friend of his, always pesters him about needing a girlfriend. Mark doesn’t agree, he doesn’t need a girlfriend to be content. He’s pretty sure he’d just get stressed out and end up creating an pointless toxic relationship.

He switches the TV to a show he actually enjoys watching, and ends up staying awake until 2:43AM. He lazily switches off the program, unplugs the lamp, and crashes onto his bed when he gets there.

Mark gets woken up by the alarm on his phone early in the morning, notifying him he needs to make an order for a fuck ton of drugs for next week.

He gets ready after about 10 minutes of just relaxing. He takes a shower, dresses himself, and gets ready to leave his apartment. He checks that he has everything he needs, and exits his apartment.

Once he’s out on the street, he doesn’t have to walk long to reach the train station. He gets on, and patiently waits for his location to be called. His eyes felt sort of droopy and it was pissing him off, so he rubs them until they wake up.

He has to wait on the train quite a bit, which is probably his least favorite part about living in the city. He gets off the train, and starts walking until he sees a familiar building that he’s been to countless times before.

He presses the button to buzz up in the apartment. Mark only hopes he’s awake.

The door beeps and Mark hears the lock clicking, indicating that he can enter. He swings the door open and waits for the elevator.

When he finally gets to the correct door, he rings the doorbell, waiting for the door to be open. “It’s unlocked!” A voice calls from inside.

Mark opens the door and is greeted with his lazy hyung sprawled out on the couch, using his arm to block the sunlight seeping in through the windows.

“Why would you leave the door unlocked?”

“Because I knew you were coming early, brat.”

Christian Yu is the man who picked Mark up, set him straight, and sent him on his way with the business. They met about a month after the whole thing with Mark’s girlfriend. His friend, Yuta, suggested Mark asked Christian if he could work for him. Mark was extremely intimidated by him at first, he isn’t going to lie.

Eventually, though, Mark began respecting Christian and looking up to him. Mark knew Christian’s job was difficult and straining on his mental health, so he offered to help him out whenever he could. That was the first time Christian promoted to him to whatever the fuck he was. He just helped Christian make decisions and sort things out properly.

The type of life they were involved in: filled with crime, violence, and anguish—it didn’t suit Christian at all. He was a joyous guy, he had a lot of fun. Or he did, before the guilt of his actions started weighing down on him. Mark remembers a particular girlfriend Christian had, the one he truly loved with all his heart, and Mark’s pretty sure he still loves to this day. 

“What do you need?” Christian asks, not moving an inch of his body off the couch.

“Pot, xans, all kinds of opioids, acid, molly, and crack.” Mark reads off the list, and then puts the order sheet on the coffee table.

“Jesus, alright. I’ll get it here tonight.” Christian says, finally sitting up to look at Mark. “You’re already here, might as well have breakfast.”

“I’m kind of busy today.”

“Damn, you’re really just gonna hit me with an ‘I’m busy’ after I offered to hang out? Disrespectful.” Christian jokes.

“My bad. And I can’t come pick it up tonight either, there's a party, so I’ll come tomorrow?”

“Yugyeom’s party?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not going this time, so make sure they don’t get caught with fucking acid. The police are trying to crack down on drug crimes.”

“They’ve been trying for years, the fuck can they do now?”

“Still, if they end up raiding the party, that’s gonna be shit.”

“Nah, they won’t. I don’t think too many people are going.”

“Good. Now, get out of my apartment and go do whatever made you so _busy_.” Christian commands.

“Alright, bye hyung. I swear we’ll hang out soon.” Mark promises.

“Yeah, yeah.”

**_September 21st_ **

**_2018|1:03AM_ **

**_Upper Class Seoul - Yugyeom’s house_ **

Mark lied. A lot of people showed up to Yugyeom’s party afterall.

When he first entered the house, it was of normal size and energy. Mark actually tolerated it sober, which is rare for him. He found his friends and it was fine. He saw Yugyeom and greeted him, thanking him for the party and all that shit.

Now, he’s too fucking faded to think about how the people are jumping around, dancing lively—some of them getting way too close to Mark—or how everyone is basically screaming to be heard. He also couldn’t focus on how hot it is in the damn room. He doesn’t even know where any of his friends are anymore. He saw Yugyeom once more but some white-haired guy was giving him a lap dance so he didn’t feel like intruding. When he tried to go find one of his close friends, he just walked in on a couple having sex. After that he just decided to sit down and do his own shit. It didn’t matter anyway, he could focus on one thing, and he cannot pry his eyes away from it.

Possibly the most beautiful boy he had ever seen, slightly familiar, dancing provocative against a tall guy who kind of looks like Minjun.

 _Wait_.

Fucking Nae Minjun is at the party.

Mark groans out loud, _Fuck Nae Minjun_ , he thinks.

The boy was moving his hips alluringly, aligned with Minjun’s crotch. He then turned around, hooked his arms around Minjun’s neck, and kissed him. _Why are they eating each other’s faces in the middle of the fucking room_ , Mark thought. How the fuck did Minjun get someone like him? Mark thought he was a hooker, not Minjun’s actual boyfriend.

Mark sighs, feeling stupid, and gets up to go out on the balcony. It was surprisingly empty, people probably didn’t want enhance the smell of pot. It didn’t really matter anyway, considering no police offers in Seoul actually know what pot smells like.

His throat felt dry and scratchy, and it kind of hurt, but after sitting there for a good 15 minutes he felt a lot more sober. Mark hates being sober, when he’s sober he’s capable of thinking. Thinking lets Mark’s feelings come in, and that’s never a good thing. Plus, life is fucking boring without drugs.

“Fuck—Mark. I’ve been looking for you. Dude, there’s this hot chick and I don’t know who she is but she’s so fucking hot. Really tall though, like she’s almost my height.” Jaehyun says, grabbing ahold of Mark’s arm, slurring just about every other word.

“What the fuck, she’s taller than me then?”

“Oh, I didn’t think of that.” Jaehyun stops to consider it, and then bursts out laughing. “She is taller than you!”

“Shut up.”

Jaehyun dragged him back into the apartment and led him into the living room, where mainly everyone is.

“Fuck! She’s grinding on Yukhei now.” Jaehyun whines.

Mark looks over at where Yukhei was, and he was indeed being grinded on by a really tall girl. A _really,_ _really_ tall girl. As Mark continued looking at the figure, he realized that the person is extremely familiar. It isn’t even a girl.

“That’s not a fucking girl, dumbass, that’s Jungwoo.” Mark corrects.

“What—fuck. Why is he dressed as a girl?” Jaehyun asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

Mark shrugs, “I don’t know. But you’re kind of gay for calling him hot.”

“Oh shut the fuck up, Yukhei’s the one grinding up against him.” Jaehyun defends, slurring.

“I don’t know, Yukhei’s really fucking out of it I can tell.” Jaehyun was too, but Mark loves messing with Jaehyun.

“Whatever. That’s not gay. You know what’s gay? Ten telling me he’s about to get fucked in the ass and then hopping out of here.”

“You have a point.” Mark admits.

“Yeah, that’s what I fucking thought.”

“Still kind of gay, though.” Mark jokes, laughing.

Jaehyun punches his arm, mutters something about shutting up, and then walks away to go talk to Taeyong. Mark sighs, deciding to go get a drink from the kitchen. He opens the fridge, grabs a water bottle and straight up chugs it empty.  
  
“Damn, you’re thirsty, aren’t you?” A high though not annoyingly pitched, velvety voice says from behind him.

Mark turns around and his breath catches in his throat. The boy from Minjun’s apartment, probably his boyfriend, who’s also the extremely beautiful boy he saw dancing with him earlier was standing there, right in front of him.

Mark probably looked incredibly stupid, staring at the boy with red, glazed-over eyes, and a dumb expression on his face. Mark takes this as a chance to actually analyze the boys appearance, scanning his body from top to bottom. His hair was a little tousled, but it still looked good. He was wearing sparkly eyeshadow with long, winged eyeliner that accented his eyes nicely. His outfit consisted of a red-velvet top with the shoulders cut off, fishnet leggings that were visible on his waistline, and black ripped jeans. In conclusion, he looked absolutely gorgeous.

The boy furrows his eyebrows a little bit, “What?”

“You’re really beautiful.” Mark confesses. What the fuck is wrong with him?

The boy smiles, “I know, thanks.” He observes Mark’s expression for a few seconds before transforming his own into a judgemental one. “God, you’re so high that you’re not even going to remember this. It’s kind of sad actually, how can you be this addicted?”

“I’m not even that high right now. Plus, doesn’t your boyfriend have the same problem?”

“Ah, so you finally remember Minjun? And you still chose to hit on me?”

“I was just complimenting. Gotta learn how to appreciate art.” Mark defends, a sly smile appearing on his face.

The boy rolls his eyes and steps closer to Mark. “You aren’t that bad yourself, Mark Lee.”

“You know my name?” Mark asks, genuinely surprised.

“Of course I know your name. Everyone gets their shit from you.” The boy explains as if it’s obvious.

“Oh.” That does make sense. He’s ordered to a bunch of people, and so have his runners. So even if he didn’t show up directly to the door, the person ordering knew it came from him. “I still don’t know you’re name, though.”

“Donghyuck. That’s my name.”

“Donghyuck.” Mark repeats, making Donghyuck nod. “That’s adorable.”

“It’s a fucking name.” Donghyuck judges.

“Still cute.”

“First adorable, now cute. Those are two different levels of cuteness, so now it just sounds like you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Just accept the compliment.”

“I’ll accept your compliments when you do them right.”

“Fine. I’ll have to master my compliment skills, though.”

Donghyuck giggles. _He’s adorable_ , Mark thinks.

“Babe?” A voice calls from the entrance of the kitchen. Mark immediately locks gazes with the man. Fuck.

Donghyuck whips his head around and watches as the taller guy opens his arms. Donghyuck slowly walks to him and is immediately snuggled into his side with Minjun’s arm around his shoulders. “You ready to go?”

Mark suddenly gets a sharp sort of feeling in his gut, his chest now burning.

Donghyuck smiles weakly and nods. Minjun kisses him on the forehead. “Alright, let me just go see if I can find Yugyeom and say bye.”

“Last time I saw Yugyeom he was getting a lap dance, so I doubt he’s available.” Mark supplies.

“I’m not surprised. Babe, do you have everything?” Minjun asks, looking at Donghyuck.

The smaller boy nods. “Alright, then let’s go.” Minjun looks up at Mark, “See you, Mark.”

“See you later, man.” Mark responds.

Neither Donghyuck nor Mark say anything to each other, just stare for half a second before Minjun leads his boyfriend out the room.

Donghyuck is Minjun's boyfriend, God, what is wrong with Mark? 

Mark wants to puke. He actually feels sick to his stomach. His mouth tasted sour and weird, why the fuck does he feel like this?

More like, why the fuck did Donghyuck act so different? Supposedly you’re supposed to act different around the one you love, but Donghyuck acted way too different. He seemed uncomfortable and awkward. Mark talked to Donghyuck for 5 minutes and he could tell the boy is highly energetic, extroverted, and extremely confident. He seemed the opposite with Minjun just now, but maybe Mark is overthinking it. Maybe Donghyuck is just tired, so it appears that way to Mark.

Whatever it is, Mark doesn’t have a good feeling about it.


End file.
